With frequent turnover at the state leadership level, it is critical to build a talented and diverse pipeline of state-level postsecondary CTE leaders. The turnover represents a loss of institutional knowledge and relationships and presents challenges to the continuity and delivery of high-quality and equitable postsecondary CTE.

Over the last three years, the Postsecondary State CTE Leaders Fellowship at Advance CTE – Sponsored by ECMC Foundation supported two cohorts of postsecondary CTE leaders and launched the application for cohort 3 on March 5, 2024. The Fellowship has supported and equipped aspiring postsecondary CTE leaders (Advance CTE – ECMCF Fellows) with: 

• The knowledge, tools and network to develop, build support for, lead and evaluate postsecondary CTE programs and policies at the state level so that all CTE is high-quality and equitable. 
• Foundational leadership skills, including how to lead with and apply an equity lens, with a particular focus on expanding access and delivering programs equitably to those who most need them. 
• Building  a crucial social capital with a diverse network of CTE, education, and workforce leaders to increase their visibility on a national scale. 

Advance CTE, thanks to the generous support of the ECMC Foundation, will support a pilot state in launching their own Fellowship by leveraging our curriculum, policies, and instructional delivery practices aimed at diversifying and strengthening the pipeline of postsecondary CTE leadership. The 15-month in-state Fellowship, composed of 15 Fellows and 15 coaches, will coincide with the launch and facilitation of cohort 3 of the 2024-2025 national Fellowship in order to model for the selected state effective administrative and facilitation practices. The state will be selected through this response for proposal (RFP) process to ensure the state’s CTE leadership and stakeholders are committed to:

• Developing and sustaining a diverse postsecondary CTE leadership program;
• Connecting Fellows to CTE leaders in their state;
• Increasing the social capital of aspiring mid-career postsecondary professionals with in-state stakeholders;  
• Designing an in-state curriculum focused on leading with an equity mindset; and
• Sharing promising practices and lessons learned from the pilot in-state Fellowship. 

Resources developed by Advance CTE such as the Building a Diverse CTE Leadership Pipeline Toolkit will be leveraged to provide the in-state Fellowship administrators with a step by step process to launch the program, recruit for Fellows, select advisory committee members and coaches, and facilitate the Fellowship. The pilot state will be awarded a stipend of $80,000 to assist with: 

• Fellowship administration expenses;
• Participant stipends for Fellows selected for the in-state Fellowship;
• Coach/mentor stipends;
• Advisory committee stipends; and
• Expenses associated with the development of an in-state Fellowship curriculum.